1. The Chantelles are awesome. Green Bay’s oldest all-women choir, these singers have been at it a long time, which is a testament to their awesomeness.

2. The group’s 50th anniversary is this weekend. That makes them as old as the Monkees, Buffalo Springfield, Cream, Iron Butterfly and the Azerbaijan State Choir Capella. None of those groups are performing anymore. Well, the Azerbaijan State Choir Capella is, but even most Azerbaijanians wish they would stop. But the point is, the Chantelles are still at it after all these years, and that’s pretty cool.

3. They perform voluntarily and free of charge at area nursing homes and places like that, but they also accept gigs singing for conventions, parties and other functions, and they concertize a few times a year for very reasonable ticket prices ($24 for you and a date, plus whatever you want to spend when you go out for drinks afterward — a pretty inexpensive night out, really, if you keep your consumption level reasonable).

4. The Chantelles cheerfully and graciously accept new members without even requiring auditions, then they work their members like dogs, whipping and beating them for even the most minor musical infractions. It’s like slavery, really, or at least indentured servitude, but it makes for some sharp, disciplined musical performances.

5. OK, No. 4 is a lie, except for the part about not requiring auditions. The members cover the entire gamut of skill level, from beginner to expert, and they are all friends, despite a range of ages from 20s to 80s.

The group’s newest member, Tallulah Caulfield, 29, who joined last fall, loves the group for its nurturing, accepting ways. Fellow singers whom she barely knew wound up supporting her through her pregnancy, for example. “I’m the youngest and newest, and these women are my best friends,” Caulfield says. “In the hustle and bustle of today, you don’t get a lot of people who just drop everything for you. They’re just great ladies.”

It’s always been that way, says Brenda Knaus, 69, of Oconto, who has been with the group for 46 years. (Just like bands such as Quiet Riot, Blood, Sweat & Tears and the Little River Band, the Chantelles no longer have any of their original members, but they definitely have some veterans). The ladies do socialize, exchange Christmas gifts and that sort of thing, but a love of music is their bond, and the weekly practices are pretty intense, Knaus says. Quality is the goal, and that’s what keeps it fun.

6. These women aren’t just singers. They dance at their shows, with choreography done by members such as Knaus. They make their own costumes. They have members who make publicity posters, members who keep the group’s history recorded in scrapbooks, members who help write the narrative for their concerts and members who organize the parties. So if you’re female, love to sing and have organizational skills you’d like to exercise in one form or another, there might be a place for you on the Chantelles roster. Hopefully among the altos, because the Chantelles are a wee bit light on altos this season.

OK, those are pretty good reasons why you should attend one of the two concerts next weekend or even join the choir. But here’s the main reason.

Srubas(Photo: File photo)

7. You are a great supporter of live music, especially live music in Green Bay. Your friends all follow only the top stars du jour, the most commercial, mind-candy trends of our era, and they all think that makes them cooler than everyone else. But you — you know music itself is more important than that, in all the weird little idiosyncratic ways it has of seeping into our bones, reshaping our minds and renewing our memberships to the human race. Sure, you appreciate the hipster stuff, too, but you’re cool enough to know music is cooler than that. You also know that when all the musical efforts in Green Bay dry up and blow away — from that crummy little three-piece country combo you listened to at that skanky bar down the street to the Green Bay Symphony Orchestra — when it all dies for want of support and we all have to start going to Milwaukee and Chicago to hear anything live, Green Bay will be an infinitely poorer place.

The Chantelles, under the direction of Susan Leiber, with piano accompaniment by Chris Wilke, perform at 7 p.m. Friday and 2 p.m. Sunday at Dudley Birder Hall, St. Norbert College Campus. Seriously. You are not that busy.